Publications by Year: 2011

This research paper intends to analyze the impact on their society at large of democratization of women’s roles at home and at the workplace. Because it is important to know the past in order to understand the present, the status of women in the Maghreb countries in the pre-independence era will be presented. But the major part of the research will begin in the 1980s with the early autonomous feminist wave and continues until the present: the first decade of the 2000s.

Several international instruments have provided for women’s equality, but it was at the 1993 Vienna Conference that women’s rights became an integral part of human rights, highlighting the issue of violence against women. However, in spite of progress since then, in particular during the last few decades, women are still far from having reached the equality they have been striving for. Increased information being transmitted via the media, but also via the work done by female activists, together with increased education have led to sweeping social changes, creating awareness among women. As a result, women are increasingly breaking the taboos that used to keep them silent and submissive and are asking for help at the centers ready to aid them find solutions to their problems of violence.

The practice of Forced Marriage, where one or both persons involved are coerced through pressure or abuse to consent to a marriage against their will, has been widely addressed in places such as the United Kingdom, but it has only recently begun to enter the framework of women’s rights advocacy work here in the United States. I am an Advocate at Manavi, a New Jersey-based South Asian1 women’s rights organization (SAWO) who has been trained on the issue of forced marriage in the UK. In this position, I have observed that in the US we are only beginning to understand what this practice is, what populations it affects, how prevalent it is and how we can effectively respond to this form of violence against women and girls so as to ensure the safety and well-being of those subjected to it. In June 2010, for the purposes of this paper, I conducted a 10-question web-based survey amongst frontline advocates at 25 SAWOs across the US. The responses I received from the survey, in addition to the cases emerging through Manavi’s advocacy work, con rms that forced marriages are happening in South Asian communities in the US. As frontline, grassroots advocates and activists in the South Asian community, we have witnessed a recent increase in reported cases even though this harmful traditional practice has been happening for many years.

Forced marriage is a serious problem in the United States today, with as many as 3,000 known and suspected cases identified in just two years by respondents of Tahirih Justice Center survey. The fact that potentially thousands of young women and girls from immigrant communities may face forced marriages each year in the United States is alarming and demands attention.

*The full article is available through this link. This article may be available free of charge to those with university credentials.

More and more funders of non-profit organizations are mandating that grantees engage in outcome evaluation. Given that this mandate is rarely accompanied by additional funding to devote to such efforts, as well as the limited skills many staff have in conducting outcome evaluation, this has been a significant hardship for human service programs. Domestic violence victim service programs have additional barriers to evaluating service effectiveness, including: (1) each survivor1 comes to the program with different needs and life circumstances; (2) there is debate about which ‘outcomes’ are appropriate for these programs to accomplish; (3) many service clients are anonymous or engage in very short-term services; and (4) surveying survivors can compromise their safety or comfort. Some programs, therefore, resist evaluating their services (which can compromise their funding) while others engage in evaluations that can compromise their integrity or values. Others, however, see outcome evaluation as an opportunity for growth and improvement. Evidence is provided that, if done appropriately and sensitively, outcome evaluation can be incorporated into ongoing staff activities, can provide evidence for program effectiveness, and can improve services for survivors of intimate partner abuse.

*The full article is available through this link. This article may be available free of charge to those with university credentials.

Background

Little is known about intimate partner violence (IPV) and depression among low income, urban African American and Hispanic adolescent females.

Method

Interviews with 102 urban African American and Hispanic adolescent females examined physical abuse, emotional/verbal abuse, and threats, and their unique and combined associations with depression.

Results

One-quarter of the sample experienced all three types of abuse. Non-physical forms of IPV were significantly associated with depression.

Conclusions

Some urban adolescent females from lower income households experience high rates of IPV. Physical and non-physical forms of IPV are important in understanding and responding to depression in this population.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive social problem impacting the psychological well-being of millions of US women annually. The extant literature draws our attention to the devastating mental health effects of IPV, but largely overlooks how ecological factors may further explain survivors' well-being. This study examined how neighborhood disadvantage may contribute to survivors' compromised well-being, in addition to the abuse women experienced. Neighborhood disorder and fear of victimization significantly impacted survivors' well-being, over and above abuse. Although between-women effects of neighborhood disorder and fear were unrelated to change in women's depression or quality of life (QOL), significant within-woman effects were detected. Change in neighborhood disorder was negatively associated with change in QOL, and this relationship was fully mediated by fear. While no direct relationship between change in neighborhood disorder and depression was detected, an indirect effect through survivors' fear was revealed. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

The Parliamentary Assembly has consistently, repeatedly and forcefully condemned violence against women as one of the most serious violations of human rights in Europe, finding its roots in unequal power relations between women and men and discrimination against women. The Assembly, therefore, warmly welcomes the draft Council of Europe convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, as the first international binding instrument specifically devoted to this issue and as an important step forward in the promotion of substantive equality between women and men.

The Parliamentary Assembly has consistently, repeatedly and forcefully condemned violence against women as one of the most serious violations of human rights in Europe, finding its roots in unequal power relations between women and men and discrimination against women.

The Assembly, therefore, warmly welcomes the draft Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, as the first international binding instrument specifically devoted to this issue and as an important step forward in the promotion of substantive equality between women and men.

While supporting this draft convention, the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men wishes to propose amendments, with a view to further strengthening the standards set out in the text.

On International Women’s Day 2011, Amnesty International expressed its profound concerns at last minute efforts by some Council of Europe member states to unravel key provisions in a new European treaty on violence against women. This treaty is known as the Council of Europe’s Draft Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. Amnesty International is therefore urging all states in the Council of Europe to oppose any attempts to re-open and undermine the existing draft treaty.

Can be found under 2011-- PR: May 6, 2011:WAVE welcomes landmark European Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence

The European Network Women against Violence Europe (WAVE) welcomes the newly adopted Council of Europe Convention which is the first legally binding European human rights instrument for the prevention, investigation and prosecution of violence against women. It is a success for women’s activists across Europe who have been active in combating violence against women for many years.

This series of technical briefs presents a brief summary of the achievements, challenges and opportunities in the implementation of the Belém do Pará Convention, both in general terms and in specific areas.

This data sheet contains selected, recent, national statistics related to intimate partner violence (IPV) – violence by current and former spouses, dating partners and cohabiting partners. All statistics are rounded to the nearest whole percent. Most of the statistics come from government sources; some are from research studies and summary reports generated by non-profit groups. OPDV also keeps a regularly updated list of relevant national statistical reports.

Published in 2011, the NISVS 2010 Summary Report presents data on the national prevalence of IPV, SV, and stalking among women and men in the United States. The 2010 survey is the first year of the survey and provides baseline data that will be used to track IPV, SV, and stalking trends.

The Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences visited the United States of America from 24 January to 7 February 2011. In the present report, she broadly examines the situation of violence against women in the country, including such issues as violence in custodial settings, domestic violence, violence against women in the military and violence against women who face multiple, intersecting forms of discrimination, particularly native American, immigrant and African-American women. The Special Rapporteur highlights the positive legislative and policy initiatives undertaken by the Government to reduce the prevalence of violence against women, including the enactment and subsequent reauthorizations of the Violence against Women Act, and the establishment of dedicated offices on violence against women at the highest level of the Executive. The Violence against Women Act has steadily expanded funding to address domestic violence and, with each reauthorization, has included historically underserved groups.

Despite legal and policy measures designed to protect victims, domestic violence remains a pervasive rights violation in the United States. Legal and policy developments in the criminal justice system over the past few decades have improved the protection scheme for victims of domestic violence, including the availability of civil protection orders, mandatory arrest laws for abusers and mandatory prosecution policies. However, these measures are not uniformly applied and can create additional problems for victims from marginalized populations. Domestic violence is greatly influenced by contextual factors such as poverty, legal status or residence.

The political turmoil that has swept Yemen since early 2011 has overshadowed the plight of child brides such as Reem, as thousands of protesters took to the streets to demand the end of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 33-year rule, and security forces responded with excessive and deadly force. But, while the focus of attention both inside and outside of Yemen is understandably the political future of the country, following President Saleh’s agreement in November to cede power before elections in February, child marriages and other discrimination against women and girls in Yemen continue unabated. And while the president’s resignation topped the list of most protestors’ demand, many young demonstrators especially are calling for a wide range of reforms, including measures to guarantee equality between women and men, and an end to child marriage.

To view this report, please click the document "Regional Overview for the Middle East and North Africa."

In 2011 the Middle East and North African Regional Office (MENARO) developed Gender Equality Profiles for all the countries in the MENA Region. The objective of the MENA gender equality profiles is to provide user-friendly, summary information on the status and situation of girls and women for all countries in the Middle East and North Africa Region.

This report documents brutal and long-lasting violence against women and girls by husbands, partners, and family members and the survivors’ struggle to seek protection. Turkey has strong protection laws, setting out requirements for shelters for abused women and protection orders. However, gaps in the law and implementation failures by police, prosecutors, judges, and other officials make the protection system unpredictable at best, and at times downright dangerous.

Recent developments in Africa have witnessed the establishment of African Court of Human Rights and African Court of Justice; and the eventual merger of the two Courts as the African Court of Justice and Human Rights. The Courts were established to compliment the protective mandate of African Commission on Human Rights. The establishment of African Human Rights Courts has catapulted scholars into considering whether the option is better for African human rights system or whether it was taken impetuously. The question is imperative in view of the problems that besiege the African Commission. This article considers the foreseeable hurdles that the African Court of Human Rights and the merged Court are likely to face. It points out that the African human rights system was built on a shaky foundation and suggests ways for revamping the system.